poker up

present singular third person pokers up · participle present pokering up · participle past pokered up · past pokered up

1. To become expressionless; to put on a poker face.

   Wicked as the devil one minute, and then pokering up like a Methodist minister the next.

   1992, Joan Overfield, The Viscount's Vixen, page 10

   5 more examples

   When his mama had ventured in the most amiable way to remark on her occasional free and easy ways, he had pokered up at once and declared that it was her very lack of pretension which he found most engaging.

   1984, Sheila Walsh, The Diamond Waterfall, page 153

   After nearly choking, Joe cocked a brow over the edge of his coffee cup. “Me?” He pokered up in affront. “I haven't done a damn thing.”

   2004, Lori Foster, When Bruce Met Cyn

   He shut the door behind him and leaned back against it, his face pokering up in that relentlessly neutral expression she recognized as his personal take on stubborn .

   2006, Terry McLaughlin, Make-believe Cowboy, page 164

   Oh, no, pokering up won't wash with me! Formality is simply another fence to cower behind.

   2014, Colleen McCullough, Bittersweet, page 366

   She pokered up indignantly. He could almost feel the electricity as she searched for a response to his compliment which would put him in his place.

   2014, Jeanne Allan, One Husband Needed